Out of the Woods
by Carmen Delta
Summary: Clarke is determined to hunt for medical supplies, forcing Bellamy to go with her. With Raven and Finn bringing up the rear, it should make for an interesting trip. Shit, this summary is so misleading.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** Hi all. Here's me writing a story for The 100 (I'm dreadfully late to the party. You can blame that on the fact that Australia doesn't air the world's best shows on its free-to-air channels. As it stands, I only discovered The 100 on a friend's Netflix account back in July. GOSH. I know.) since I've pretty much devoured everything I could read of it here and on AO3. I actually used Story Cubes to write this, hence it seeming super "original" aka spaced out and "wait, they're doing what now? What's happening?".

Tentatively titled "Out of the Woods" because I'm three chapters in and still haven't decided on a name so I'm going with the song that's currently playing as I write this AN. Seems fitting enough. You might want to put me or this story on Alerts though in case the name changes (presuming you'd want to keep reading). Would also love it _immensely_ if you reviewed! Even if it's just to tell me what you liked or didn't like (constructively of course). Or to tell me how much you love Bellarke. That's perfectly acceptable too. It'd be fun if you speculate or try to guess what will happen next too. Anyway time for me to shut up. Enjoy!

 **Cover Image credit goes to Fatal-Drug on DeviantArt for "I am Become Death".  
The 100 belongs Kass Morgan and the CW network.**

* * *

"Clarke."

The blonde medic turned at the sound of her name. "Hey Jasper. What's up?"

A bowl of mixed berries and nuts was held out for her. "You need to eat."

"I'm almost done," she said, turning back to her work as she tried to ground the remainder of the stubborn leaves into a thick paste. They defied her by holding their sturdy leaf shapes.

"That's what you told Monty, like, two hours ago. Come on," he nudged her arm with the bowl. "You'll exhaust yourself. And we can't have you getting tired. Or sick. Or injured. Or die. Oh my god, there's so many things that could go wrong with you alone! We'd all be screwed." Clarke could practically see his Adam's apple bob when she heard him gulp. "Just eat the damn food will you?"

Clarke sighed and dropped her makeshift pestle (a rock whose end had been buffed thousands of times over with other rocks until it remotely resembled the smooth club shaped tool Clarke desperately wished the camp had the real deal of) to grab the proffered food.

"Thanks," she told him grudgingly. She took a seat on one of the dropship's built in chairs and picked at her food until she found some berries she didn't hate. The berries weren't bad, per se, especially since they kept The 100 alive on The Ground and were relatively easy to forage for, but some were just so tart and bitter Clarke had to wonder whether the food she'd read three generations previous had eaten was even remotely similar. She popped a handful of the bright red ones in her mouth and watched gratefully as Jasper stepped up to the makeshift mortar and pestle on her workbench and attempted to wrestle with the plant.

"This is a great workout for my biceps," he grunted as he twisted his arm this way and that. After a few more seconds of struggling, he glanced at the slab of rock that served as the mortar and blinked in disbelief. Hardly any of his work had transpired to mush. "What even?" he asked.

"Yeah," Clarke said around a mouthful of nuts. "It's proving to be difficult."

"And we're sure this is the tree? Melaleuca alternifolia?" He held up a leaf to closely examine it.

"Not at all," Clarke said with fake gusto. "From everything we'd read on the Ark, this tree shouldn't be growing anywhere _near_ North America. So either we're not on the same continent we think we are, or this tree may just have traveled hundreds of miles in the last century by its own doing. Either way, it looks identical to the pictures in Earth Biology's textbooks, so of course I'm having a crack at it if there's the possibility it's even remotely related to the Tea tree. Monty agreed it should be safe to study."

Jasper turned and leaned against her workbench as he regarded her seriously. "You're looking for alternatives because we're running out of medicine, aren't you?"

Clarke let out a huff of frustration. "What aren't we running out of, Jasper?" She threw her hands up in the air. "Medicine, material for tents, warm clothes, ammunition, people, time. The list goes on. If we keep up at the rate we're going, we'll all be dead within the year. Winter will be here in a few months and we are _not_ prepared. At all."

Jasper held his hands up in an effort to ward off her negativity. "Whoa. Well at least we can be grateful we've got enough air to make long lists like that."

That gave Clarke some perspective. Her shoulders slumped. "You're right. The Ark is probably in its last few weeks and I'm sitting here complaining about antibiotics we don't even need yet."

Jasper opened his mouth to say something comforting when Monty popped his head through the tarp at the dropship's entrance.

"Hey, hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said cheekily. Noticing the glum mood he'd intruded upon, he cleared his throat. "Clarke, we've got a twisted ankle out here." His head ducked out of the curtains momentarily to presumably glance behind him. "Incoming."

The sound of voices arrived moments before the people did, two guys supporting a girl who sported a pale face sheened with sweat.

"Right here," commanded Clarke, indicating a makeshift bed that afforded the best possible light from the solar powered bulbs of the dropship. "What happened?"

"She tripped while hunting -" began one until the girl hissed in pain as she was jostled onto the bed.

Clarke didn't need to ask which ankle it was; the right was intensely bruised and swollen like a river. She thanked the boys and they took their cue, exiting without another word. Tentatively probing the ankle caused more winces from the girl, and though she hated to do it, she slightly moved the ankle, which caused shrieks of pain as the girl lunged into a sitting position and begged her to stop. Right then. Broken. A simple fracture as far as Clarke could tell.

"Hey, I'm Clarke," she introduced herself, even though it was unnecessary given how much of the camp knew her by sight alone. "What's your name?"

"Thalie."

"Hey Thalie," she smiled gently before delivering the news. "Unfortunately, you've broken the Tibia," she said as gently as she could. "That's a bone just about here." Clarke tapped the Tibia of the girl's left ankle. A brief nod from her patient allowed her to continue. "That's actually pretty good news in terms of complexity. A simple fracture is the least complicated fracture you could've had. That means it'll be much easier to fix."

"Okay. And how do we do that?"

"RICE."

"Rice?"

"That's right. Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate. Now, we don't have access to ice as of yet on the Ground, but cool water is a sufficient substitute, though it'll take a bit longer. Jasper?" The boy stood to attention like a soldier awaiting a command. "Can you find a towel of some sort and soak it? And fill up this waterbag? We need them cold. Thanks," she added as he picked up the plastic waterbag and headed outside. "You with me so far, Thalie?" A nod. "Okay. So I'm going to set you up here for the day, maybe tomorrow too, and we're going to prop this ankle up so it's higher than your chest. That should reduce the swelling and lessen the pain. After that, we can move you to your tent or somewhere else if you want a bit more privacy." Clarke began piling anything soft she could find under Thalie's ankle and requested the girl lie back down and get comfortable. When Jasper returned, she draped the wet t shirt he'd brought over the ankle and tucked it under the sides before placing the waterbag lightly on top. She eyed her dwindling supply of clean bandages.

"Thanks for your help, Jasper. And thanks for lunch." He nodded and ducked out of the dropship with a smile and wave.

Clarke pretended not to notice Thalie's halfhearted wave back to Jasper, nor the sudden flush on her cheeks.

"So tell me," she said to distract the girl. "How did this happen? I thought the hunting party were supposed to be good at the whole 'hunting' thing. Falling on your face hardly seems stealthy to me. Unless you're trying to attract a bear I suppose."

Thalie laughed before hissing as she jolted her ankle.

"You need to keep that still," Clarke reminded her gently.

"I'd been tracking a deer for about 15 minutes when I finally caught up to it. I had my spear ready and I took another step to get a better angle when I tripped on something. The noise it made could have woken the dead! It certainly scared the deer off. I think I fell on a car."

This wasn't as unusual as it might have sounded had they still been on the Ark. After all, Clarke had only been on the Ground for a couple of days when she'd discovered the buried car that had saved herself, Finn and Wells from their first experience of Acid Fog. Atom hadn't been so lucky.

"Really?" asked Clarke with interest. "That's a pretty nifty find. Make sure you mark it next time so you can find it again. I hear privacy is a rare commodity for couples around here."

Thalie laughed again. "I definitely would have, had I not almost blacked out from the pain. I can't remember much about it now, actually. I'm pretty sure I tripped on the door handle. Something that jutted up, anyway. All I can remember now is the red x."

"The red x? Like on a pirate map?" Clarke teased.

"You know, like they used to have on the ambulances back before the nukes. I didn't see it at first but when the others dragged me to my feet, I must've swept some dirt up because it was right where my head had been."

Clarke had stilled in the middle of lifting the wet shirt to check the ankle's swelling. "Thalie," she said slowly without taking her eyes off the bruising splurged across her injury. "Are you telling me you found an ambulance?"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** I thought I'd upload another chapter since the first one didn't include the man we're all here to read about :P This is a bit of a baby chapter as it only stands at around 900 words, but the next handful are all a nice solid 2k which should be more enjoyable to read. I'm aiming to post again in about 3 days, earlier if I get antsy :D Enthusiastic shoutouts to **Terinkaa** , **turtle18** , **JordanneP** , and **Rubyredred**. You guys are awesome!

Enjoy, everyone.

* * *

Clarke had been patient. More patient than she wanted to be. It had been three days and Thalie's ankle had been healing well enough that she felt it was sufficient to leave her with strict orders of bedrest before heading off on her hunt. And that was how she found herself in what they'd all dubbed "the war tent", with Raven and Bellamy.

"No dice," Bellamy flat out refused when she told him of her plans. "Sorry, Princess. It's too dangerous and not worth the risk."

"Bellamy, we _need_ medicine. We need bandages, needles, proper stitching thread. We need supplies I can actually use to treat wounds and not lie awake at night hoping they were clean enough that they won't've caused an infection. I can't treat those. Not here on the Ground. Not without help."

"Clarke, we need you here," her co-leader explained in a voice that straddled the border of impatience.

"What good will I be here as the camp healer if I can't heal?" she pointed out. "Look, Thalie told me where to go. It's not like I'm going to be wandering into Grounder territory. I'll be back before you know it."

Clarke watched as the tall, dark and stoic Bellamy chewed on his cheek in apparent thought.

"Take someone with you," he finally said. "Someone who can shoot well."

Finn, who'd been hovering outside the tent ( _not_ eavesdropping, he told himself) entered and picked up a gun from against the wall.

"You've got your man," he said.

Raven, who'd been working on splitting ammo at the table when Clarke had come in, turned to look at him. It still hurt that Finn showed more blatant preference for Clarke even though he'd unofficially picked Raven. "I'll go with you," she told him in what she hoped was a neutral voice as she got to her feet. She wasn't jealous, just…. wary.

"Where're we going?" asked Monty as he and Jasper pushed open the tent flap and crowded into the space that was becoming increasingly smaller by the minute.

"Nowhere," Bellamy and Clarke both answered. Monty and Jasper traded minute knowing smiles at that.

"With me out of camp, Monty, you're the next closest thing we have to a doctor. I'm going to need you here."

"Hey man, if you're going out to look for some more herbs, shouldn't you be taking, oh, I don't know, a botanist?" he asked with only a small hint of sarcasm.

"And that's exactly why you're staying," Clarke told him firmly. "Monty, you're from a family of pharmacists. You're one of the only people I trust to hand out the right tea or to make a correct poultice. Half the Ark is still alive thanks to your family."

"What about me?" asked Jasper. Clarke pushed back her frustration – this was taking too long! – and smiled kindly back at the other boy from Agro Station.

"Look Jasper, we're already a party of three for a simple trip. If we take any more people, we'll only be attracting further attention. The Grounders already got you with a spear, are you sure you're reading for another round?"

Jasper merely rubbed his chest where the spear had penetrated him.

"Right, grab your gear, I'll meet you at the gate," Clarke told Raven and Finn as she headed for the tentflap. Jasper and Monty parted to allow her through.

Minutes later, the trio stood waiting for the gate to be heaved back by the camp guards. Clarke sported her backpack which she'd emptied of everything aside from two days' worth of rations.

"Be back by nightfall," Bellamy instructed from behind. Clarke turned to face him.

"I'll be out as long as I need," she told him. "I won't be returning empty handed."

Bellamy growled under his breath. "You'll be back on time or you won't go at all."

Clarke tilted her head and stared up at him in agitation. "I'm going and I won't be forced to come home before I'm ready. You can't stop me and if you try, I'll only sneak out the second your attention is occupied." Which wasn't hard, given the camp's inability to go more than a few minutes without having someone run for Bellamy or Clarke.

Bellamy searched her face, noting the similarity in her look of defiance as one he well recognised from Octavia. Unfortunately his little sister had already proven many times over since landing on Earth that she would not be contained, or 'locked up' as she called it. He figured Clarke had had enough of that in solitary and could now give Octavia a run for her money where determination for escape was concerned. But that didn't mean she'd be able to handle herself against a surprise attack of Grounders. Not with only Finn as protection.

He held her gaze for a few more minutes before making his decision. "Fine," he said suddenly, surprising all within eavesdropping distance. He turned to the nearest guard and relieved him of his gun. "Looks like it's going to be the four of us then."

Clarke's eyes narrowed. "Fine," she said.

"Fine," Bellamy echoed.

"Fine," Raven said, stepping between the pair and ushering them out the gate. "Looks like we're all heading out as one big happy family."

"Fine," Bellamy and Clarke both answered.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** The little disruption to the site these past 2-3 days were awful for me! I was desperate to update before I went away but when the login errors persisted, I was forced to take my laptop with me, so here I am lugging it around on my holiday :( Boo.

MAJOR MAJOR squeals and thank yous to **Sydcasy** ; my very first reviewer! I HOPE TO SEE MORE IN THE FUTURE *HINT HINT* :P Reviews make me more motivated to get a chapter out sooner because they're like little pancakes of appreciation. I could gobble them up all day! So it's really in your best interest, no?

* * *

Clarke had just been about to suggest they head a little further west when Bellamy's "Are you sure you know where you're going?" had her hold her tongue.

"Yes," she said with barely held back frustration. They should have found it by now. If only Thalie or the hunting party had thought to drop breadcrumbs for them to follow. Not that she was going to admit that now.

"We've been walking for over an hour now and I doubt this is where the hunting party would have strayed. The vegetation's thinning. Animals aren't going to be foraging around here."

"We're just not looking hard enough. _You're_ not even looking," she added over her shoulder as she pointedly stared at his aloft gun. "You're too busy looking for Grounders that aren't even here."

"Fine," Bellamy said, dropping the gun and sliding the strap around until the weapon sat flat against his back instead. He showed her his empty hands before turning his attention to the ground. "Happy?"

Clarke felt a thrill of fear run down her back at the thought that they was one less person guarding the group, with only Finn locked and loaded, ready for shooting. However, she shook it off because at least that meant there was one more person looking for buried vehicles. _I'm not leaving until I find that ambulance_ , she thought resolutely.

"Hey, shouldn't we have brought someone actually from the hunting party?" Raven asked from several paces away. She had her head bent to the ground as she studied the ground for any unevenness. "You know, one of the guys who brought Thalie back?"

"Maybe," Clarke admitted. She pursed her lips. "Too late now though. Let's keep looking. Even if we don't find the ambulance, maybe we'll find another bunker."

"And you're sure it's this way?" Bellamy asked with derision.

"Clarke said she's sure," Finn called across the group. "Let's trust her instincts." He gave Clarke a nod that said 'I've got your back'.

"Well we're trusting our way further and further away from the camp," Bellamy said.

"Let's pick up the pace," Clarke suggested, increasing her stride to cover more ground before Bellamy could decide it was time to turn around. Not that she'd listen, of course. It was just easier to argue that they'd come all this way and it wasn't worth turning around yet if they kept going.

Another half hour passed before anything changed. A sweet fragrance began to trickle into Clarke's awareness, and she inhaled deeply. Similar sounds around her indicated she wasn't the only one noticing the smell.

"What is that?" Raven asked in a low, awed voice.

"It smells incredible," Finn agreed. Clarke made a noise of agreement.

Bellamy remained silent.

"Come on," Finn said and they increased their speed, following their noses until they were almost blinded with the smell.

"I could die happily," Raven admitted with a deep breath.

They emerged into an enormous clearing. The clearing was covered with hundreds of thousands of little pink and red flowers.

Raven sneezed. "Okay, now it's not so lovely," she admitted with another sneeze. Two more sneezes followed.

But Clarke was too busy taking in the view before them to listen. It was a strange sight to be sure, even without the bright colours making the nerves behind her eyes slightly throb. It appeared as if the flowers had tried to grow themselves into a beanstalk but then given up halfway.

It was then that she noticed the large building some ways away. The flowers had grown over it, yes, but its shape was still obvious enough that they could recognise civilisation had once stood there before being reclaimed by nature.

"There's something there," Clarke announced, pointing at the large rectangular mass of flowers. "They've grown over a building."

The group kept to the outer edges of the clearing, wary of Grounders, as they made their way to the structure. As they got closer, they realised it was quite long, but not very tall.

"I'm guessing it's a hanger," Raven said before sneezing again. "You know, for planes," she added at everyone's blank looks.

"Are we… could this be an airfield?" Finn asked, making a slow circle as they reevaluated the area.

"My guess is that we're in an old airport. Rural, given the size of the hanger. It's say three, maybe four planes top are sitting in there. If they're any in there at all."

Clarke took an excited step further. "They'll have medicine kits at the least," she said.

"And extra materials for fortifying and building camp," Bellamy added firmly.

The four made their way to the front of the building and tried to pull open the doors. "That's going to be a bitch to open," Raven announced after it was wordlessly decided they couldn't do it. "We're going to need more than four people to do that. Probably some juice to oil those hinges again. If this thing was automatic, there's going to be a manual override switch inside we'll need to hit first anyway." She sneezed twice in succession before growling in frustration.

"So I'm guessing that's a radiotower then?" Clarke asked, pointing to what she'd considered a halfassed beanstalk before.

"Oh yeah. Let's check it out."

The four of them cautiously made their way through the centre of the field, aware they were easy targets in the open space. "This should be easy enough to open," Finn said when they realised it was as simple as getting through a straightforward standard door. He took aim with his gun and shot at the lock before anyone could argue.

"Save the ammo for the Grounders," Bellamy snapped, reaching for the gun.

Finn pulled the weapon out of his reach. "One bullet for who knows what radio equipment is up there? Seems a fair trade."

"It's a lucky dip," Bellamy ground out but nonetheless, pushed open the door and lead the way. They climbed up the narrow stairs until they emerged onto the top floor. Clarke imagined it would have been quite light had the windows not been coated in a hundred years' worth of dust. Pulling her sleeve over her palm, she walked to a window and wiped at it. The glass was filthy, and she'd only managed to clean a portion of the dirt on the inside of the window. But the light filtered through and made the place less creepy.

"Well well well," Bellamy said with a familiar grin tugging at his lips. "This seems rather fitting, doesn't it?" Clarke watched him silently as he took three slow, leisurely steps toward her. "I seem to recall hearing some fairytales growing up about princesses locked in towers." He gave her hair a gentle tug. "Look at that. You're home."

Finn and Raven were ducked under the desk that spanned the circular wall, pulling out all the wires they could get their hands on. Clarke glanced back to Bellamy. "Oh, and who are you supposed to be? Prince Charming or the Big Bad Wolf?" Clarke regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. She hadn't intended to sound flirty, but flirty she definitely had.

Luckily, Bellamy didn't seem to notice. He gave her hair a final tug and said "Wrong story, Princess," before turning on his heel and returning to guard duty at the top of the staircase.

With a roll of her eyes, Clarke joined the search team and hunted around for any supplies that would be useful around camp. Correction: everything in this room could be repurposed for camp, but they could always come back. This visit, Clarke was hunting for medical supplies. Bandages, ice packs, towels, blankets. Even a freaking sticky plaster would do. Scraped knees could lead to some nasty infections if left uncovered.

Clarke found an Automated Defibrillator attached to the wall, but the battery was dead and she doubted they'd have need for it given that they were all young and relatively healthy. When she found a cupboard marked with a green cross, she let out a triumphant "Aha!"

Bellamy glanced over and she caught his fond smile. As much as they might argue, at least he understood how important it was for her that they find decent medical provisions for the camp infirmary. Opening the cupboard, she found a small first aid kit that looked to never have been used, and an industrial sized metal box that was stocked to the brim. Clarke sent up a fervent prayer of thanks to whoever was looking out for them and hauled the two kits up onto the desk.

Her wide smile proved to be infectious, as the rest of the group lit up with similar ones.

"Happy, Princess?" Bellamy asked. Clarke merely hugged the kits on the desk and the four laughed.

"It's a start," she told him seriously. "These may be fine for the short term, but I'd love it if we could have acc -"

"Just be grateful you've got what you do," Bellamy told her. "We can always come back. Now. Let's see about some camp materials." And with that, they filled their bags with radio equipment, spare clothes, empty waterbottles, two sets of walkie talkies, whole reams of paper, pens, old manuals and magazines; whatever they could carry.

"There's so much useful stuff here," Clarke said as she zipped her backpack closed. Finn, Raven and Clarke's bags were all near bursting with salvaged treasure. "I'll bet the planes have some useful gear too."

"Yeah," Bellamy agreed as they descended the narrow staircase. He shielded his eyes against the midday sun when they emerged back outside. "It makes you wonder why it's been untouched for so many years. Why haven't the Grounders raided the place?"

"Lighten up," Finn suggested as he snagged a flower from the ground and tucked it above Clarke's ear. Bellamy, who had been shouldering the door back shut, rolled his eyes. When would Finn realise that he was making Clarke uncomfortable when he flirted with her in front of Raven?

Raven started to say something, but was interrupted by a stream of sneezes. They continued walking and had left the clearing by the time her sneezing fit decided it was finished. Free from her allergic hell, Raven was now able to properly allow her anger to express itself.

"For God's sake!" she yelled, aiming a kick at the field of flowers that continued to sprawl itself across the ground into the woods. "Why – are – there – so – many - " she yelled, punctuating each word with a kick or swipe, "freaking – FLOWERS?" She picked up a rock and threw it at a tree.

After this outburst, which was cut short but a few more sneezes, silence rang out in the group's ears. That is, until they realised it wasn't their ears ringing any longer. It was a dull hum, increasing steadily in volume. Everyone stood stock still – Finn and Bellamy poised with their guns at the ready – waiting for the cause of the noise to reveal itself.

It was then that Clarke noticed the flowers at their feet beginning to wilt. "Look," she said, crouching down to look properly at the pink and red painted petals. She couldn't tell if it was her imagination, but the flowers seemed to be paling, like the colour was a blush, and the blood was sinking back under the skin as the arteries shrank.

"Are they dying?" Finn asked curiously with a quick glance at the ground before returning his attention to the trees.

"No," Clarke said slowly. "I think they're…. hiding."

"I think I know why," Raven said just as slowly, her gaze lost in the distance. Clarke followed her gaze and rose to her feet.

"RUN!"


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** Chapter 6 was giving me some difficulty, so I had to put off posting this chapter until I had 6 settled (I rewrote a scene several times and I'm still not happy with it but it's getting there). I've loved all the reviews I got for last chapter, so I give a sincere and hearty thanks to **Uppity Bitch** , **Redhead17x** , **Athenyx** , **mysterious anonymous reviewer** , **MarvelGeekGirl** and **Darkangel-Luv**! I wanted to give a special acknowledgement to you guys because your reviews made me so happy and I just HAD TO TELL YOU! :D

In advance (for this and future chapters), I apologise for inconsistencies or irregularities in regards to American things like the measurement system. I am only used to the metric system but I know the the show follows the American model so I tried to be true to that i.e. yards and miles even though I barely have an idea of what they would look like (I did Google to check roughly though!). Just in case you felt the need to bring that up in a review. The writing itself will not be Americanised though coz I'd get far too confused trying to manage that when I'm Australian :)

Happy reading, and I'd _**love**_ to hear what you enjoyed/didn't enjoy, your reactions and/or any speculations you have for future chapters!

* * *

The horde of hundreds or thousands of angry wasps flew after them like a thick black storm cloud. But instead of thunder, they were accompanied by a buzzing that droned into the ears of all in the vicinity, and instead of lightning, they flashed glimpses of their wicked stingers.

"WHY ARE THEY SO BIG?" Clarke cried out between pants of exertion moments after they'd all bolted.

"Butterflies glow and animals have two heads here but you're wondering why they're big?" Finn yelled back as he jumped over tree roots and ducked a low hanging branch.

"Just shut up and keep moving," Bellamy growled.

They continued to run for what seemed like an eternity but was surely only minutes, when Clarke felt a stab of fear. "I can't run much longer," she gasped through the stitch in her side.

"Me either," Raven panted from somewhere to her left.

"We need to split up," Finn called from Raven's other side. "They've got pack mentality. Split up and find water."

"We're not splitting up!" Clarke managed while holding her side with the hand that wasn't gripping the med kit. As it already stood, they were spread out several yards apart from each other and were just barely within shouting distance.

"Ow!"

Clarke whipped her head in Raven's direction before surprising herself with her own cry of pain. She'd been stung. Similar sounds of pain from the boys accompanied hers and Raven's.

A sob escaped Clarke's lips. It felt so hopeless. In less than a minute's time, she'd be keeling over from exhaustion and –

"There!" Bellamy was pointing straight ahead to a point halfway between himself and Clarke.

"Water," Raven croaked.

"Come on," Finn encouraged as they all put on one last burst of speed. Their lagging from exhaustion had slowed them down considerably. It was no wonder the wasps had caught up.

Clarke was the first to jump feet first into the pool. While under, she heard the crashing sounds of three other bodies breaking the surface. Bubbles kissed her exposed arms, neck and face, and she felt her hair swirl around in a messy halo that blocked her vision and tickled her nose.

She held herself underwater as long as her limited breath would allow her before she found herself bursting forth and gasping for air. The wasps remained but were now only a fraction of those that had given chase. Clarke found Bellamy's familiar warm brown eyes and held his gaze. Both were panting heavily. Before Clarke could say something, a hand forced her head back under the water. She struggled until another hand parted her hair away from her face and she could see it was Bellamy. He removed the hand from her crown, trusting her to remain under again for as long as she could. Even through the water, they could hear the humming of the wings, beating faster than Clarke's heart was capable of, despite how terrified she was. Bellamy was now removing his jacket. His attention in taking it off was allowing him to float up now that he wasn't focusing on treading water to remain below the surface. Clarke grabbed his shirt and held him in place until he managed to throw off his jacket. With a pointed glance up, he held the jacket over their heads as they slowly emerged from the water.

Their faces were now _extremely_ close. As close as two people could manage without kissing. But Clarke couldn't bring herself to care. She was breathing. If she'd had to spend another moment underwater, she'd have passed out. Her lungs had never had such a workout in all her life, as they had in the past 10 minutes.

"Let's hope Finn and Raven think to do the same," was all Bellamy said, his breath warm on her lips.

"Uh huh," Clarke agreed, still too breathless to manage anything else.

The buzzing was definitely dying down now. The wasps had given up. To be certain, Clarke and Bellamy remained in place for another full minute before peeking out from under the thick material of the jacket.

"They're gone," Finn's voice came from nearby. Clarke and Bellamy stood and found the water was only at chest height.

"You guys alright?" Raven asked from a few feet away as she wrung the water out from her hair.

Bellamy nodded before turning to look down at Clarke. "Are you?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Uh huh," Clarke said just as quietly. It was then she realised why he'd asked. She was still clinging to him. It took more control than she'd thought it would take to remove her hand from where it gripped Bellamy's shirt. One by one her fingers released the fabric until it was free from her clutches. She tugged the shirt down by the bottom hem to unbunch it. "Sorry 'bout that," she said with her eyes glued to the grey shirt.

"No problem, Princess," Bellamy said with a grin in his voice.

"So does anyone have any idea of where we are?" Raven asked as she waded out of the water. They all followed suit and had a look around.

"I think we're east of camp," Bellamy said with a glance to the afternoon sun for confirmation. "We shouldn't be too far off. Probably an hour or two."

"I lost my bearings when we were running," Finn admitted. "But I agree, I think we ran parallel to our route this morning. So long as we head directly east, we should be fine."

Clarke returned from picking up the medical kit where she'd dropped it some yards back.

"Sounds good to me," she said tiredly. "Let's stop for food first."

They all took seats on the rocks surrounding the large pond and pulled their rations from their packs. Clarke handed her spare one to Bellamy, who hadn't had time to pack provisions for himself due to his impromptu decision to accompany them.

"Gross," Raven muttered as she squeezed the water from her rationbag.

"I'd rather waterlogged berries and nuts than being stung again by those wasps," Finn said before dropping a handful into his mouth.

Clarke picked through her berries until she found some tolerable ones. "At least it wasn't salt water."

Once they'd finished eating, they picked up their backpacks again and headed east. It took a few minutes, but eventually Clarke noticed what was wrong.

"Heeey," she said so slowly she may as well have slurred. "I'm guessing those wasp stings had some pretty potent venom in them," she said almost incoherently. Her movements felt slow and sluggish. That had been the first indicator.

"Whaydyousaythat?" Raven slurred back before her face comically showed her alarm at her own speech. "Whatha?"

"Isfine," Finn slurred. "SolongasthaGroundersdoncomeout." He was holding his gun upside down and Clarke wanted to giggle.

"This is just like those berries we had at camp," Bellamy said with only a slight slur. Clarke could only see one visible sting. An angry red welt on the back of his neck. Clarke counted hers. She had at least three. "Come on, guys. Keep up." His arm stretched out like he'd started to reach for Clarke before he thought better of it.

When Clarke stumbled for a third time in as many minutes, he did it anyway.

"Here," he said as he wrapped one arm around her shoulders. The other hand held the grip of the gun.

"I'm guessing those wasps were territorial," Clarke said louder than she was able to control. "I wonder if those flowers were like their jams, if you know what I mean."

"I don't," Bellamy said with a smirk. "But feel free to continue the theory."

"No thanks," Clarke said with a thunderous frown when she realised he was making fun of her. "Wish you'd been stung more," she muttered darkly under her breath.

"What was that?" Bellamy asked.

"Nothing," she told him.

After an estimated half an hour, Clarke's brain had cleared of the venom induced fog enough to think clearly again. Unfortunately, her limbs were still as of yet to catch up.

"We're being too noisy," Clarke hissed as loudly as she dared to the group. "If we're getting close to camp, that means we're bound to run near the Grounders' camps too."

"Let's pick up the pace," Bellamy suggested, regretting it immediately when the other three took to making even more noise than they had before.

"Stupid limbs," Raven grumbled to herself. She ducked to massage her calves to boost circulation. "Work, damn you!"

An arrow thudded into a tree above her. Had she remained standing, there was no doubt it would have pierced her head and potentially come out the other side.

"Grounders!" Finn called. "Run!"

Once again they found themselves being chased. The venom still circulating their systems made their movements slow and sluggish, and they were making such a cacophony of noise that they didn't doubt their escape efforts were only drawing more attention to themselves. Bellamy had one hand on Clarke's upper arm and was half dragging her in his quest to keep her pace up to his. Raven's hand had sought Finn's and they too ran as one.

"Drop the kit," Bellamy ordered Clarke when he heard the metal bash against her knee for the fourth time. "It's slowing us down." Behind them, they could hear the Grounders gaining on them.

"No!" Clarke's eyes flashed and her grip tightened on the handle.

"You're going to get us killed," he told her, but she just ignored him.

An upcoming tree parted them and they continued running, steadily growing further apart the more ground they covered.

"Clarke!" Bellamy craned his neck this way and that to find her as he kept on eye on where he was going.

"Raven!?" Finn's voice called over the din.

Bellamy spotted Raven and called "Over here!" to Finn. Finn had just dodged a spear and changed directions to head for Raven when they heard it.

"Clarke!" Bellamy bellowed again as he followed the sounds of a fight. Emerging from a thick cluster of trees, Bellamy was able to see two people scuffling ahead. At the flash of golden blonde hair, he charged. A feminine scream from the other direction had him almost pause. When he saw Finn also going for Clarke, he growled and grabbed the back of the boy's jacket, throwing him in Raven's direction.

Ducking instinctively and weaving between the trees, Bellamy avoided two more arrows headed for his back as he finally broke through the trees to where Clarke grappled with a Grounder. To be fair, while she wasn't exactly holding her own, she was at least strong enough to hold him off so he couldn't do more than roll them around in the dirt. With a roar, Bellamy grabbed the Grounder by the clothing on his back and hauled him off of the blonde. Clarke immediately rolled to the side and staggered to her feet.

Bellamy aimed two well-placed blows to the Grounder's solar plexus before his opponent turned the tables by grabbing Bellamy's head and flipping him over. The wind was knocked out of Bellamy with a painful "Oof!"

The Grounder managed a kick to Bellamy's kidneys before a heavy metal box was brought crashing down onto his head. He dropped to his knees, revealing a panting Clarke holding the med kit above her head. Not as dazed as he appeared, the Grounder lunged in a half turn and tackled Clarke by her knees. She fell to her back with a similar "Oof!" and her weapon flew from her hands, creating a ruckus as it bounced on the rocky outcrop and slid to a stop in the dirt. Bellamy was still struggling to breathe when he shoulder charged the Grounder, forcing him off of Clarke.

All three managed to get to their feet and circled each other liked caged animals, poised to see who would attack first. A barrage of arrows rained down from the trees, and the Grounder took hold of Bellamy's split second of distraction and charged. The pair grappled back and forth in an even match, forcing Clarke to inch backwards step by step. It was when she stumbled into the med kit and it disappeared, clanking with each rock it hit, that she realised why the trees had thinned out and there remained nothing but dust and dirt. They were on a cliff.

Windmilling to regain her balance, she opened her mouth to warn Bellamy when the armlocked pair swung sideways and knocked her off her feet. Her eyes bulged but she didn't have the breath to scream as she flew to the ground like a fallen angel.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** Spent a couple of hours working on chapter 7 today, so I thought I might post chapter 5 earlier than I'd planned. **Darkangel-Luv, sydcasy, WyaRose, Athenyx, GangstaKB33, Miss Meowing,** you guys are _awesome._ I loved your reviews and a few of them made me laugh! :D So I dedicate this chapter to you wonderful six. Enjoy!

PS - I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF A REWATCH AND I REALISED THE SHOW DOES IN FACT USE THE METRIC SYSTEM! YAY! Too late now, so I'll keep the American system to stay consistent with the story, but :D :D :D :D It was so difficult visualising the yards and feet Google was translating from meters for me. Basically: BIG cliff and decently sized beach.

* * *

"Clarke!"

Bellamy couldn't believe it. One moment she'd been there. The next she wasn't.

The only sound evidencing her disappearance had been a small gasp.

The echo of a splash a fair distance below followed.

Bellamy felt adrenaline surge through his limbs, enabling him to unleash the full force of his shock and anger into a solid punch that smashed itself into the Grounder's face. With hardly a second thought, Bellamy dived over the edge of the cliff and found himself flying with frightening speed towards the churning body of water.

He broke the surface far more smoothly than he'd anticipated. With a quick succession of upward strokes and kicks, he was breaking the surface once more. He tread water as calmly as he could, even as he fought off the instinctive panic all members of the Hundred felt when facing a large amount of water. "Clarke! Clarke! Clarke!?" he called, with each repetition creeping further from authority and closer to panic. He spun in a circle but he couldn't see or hear her.

"Clarke!"

He was finding it hard to tread water now. The adrenaline that had coursed through his body only moments ago was now fear, and it paralysed where the adrenaline had given strength. God, he couldn't lose her now. _The camp_ couldn't lose her. She was their only hope for long term survival.

He dove under the water, his eyes stinging at the salt as he stared almost unseeingly through the murky green depths. When oxygen became a problem, he surfaced again for a quick lungful of fresh air before diving again. He took haphazard broad armed strokes to push himself through the water, turning his head this way and that. He resurfaced twice more before he spotted her. At last!

His heart thrummed in the base of his throat as he swam toward her. Oh god. Oh god, no. She was too still. She was too deep. Her eyes were closed and there were no bubbles escaping her closed lips. Bellamy worked her backpack off her shoulders and arms and released it. It sank steadily to the bottom of the lake. His arms encircled her waist and upper back and he hugged her to him as he brought them both to the surface.

"Clarke!" he yelled. "Clarke!" Tapping her cheeks didn't work either. He hitched the arm holding her waist to him higher and swam clumsily toward the closest shore he could spy. It took many minutes, far longer than he'd've liked, but they made it and that was the important thing. He dropped her to the wet sand once he'd been able to crawl on his knees far enough away from the water that the tide wouldn't cling to them with its needy fingers.

She didn't move.

Her face was sickly pale. Her hair was plastered to her forehead, her neck, the sand. Her eyelids showed no movement and a brief hand at her slightly parted lips revealed no passing air.

Bellamy sniffed. He'd failed her. He'd failed the camp. How could he face going back without her? She was the glue in their leadership. She was the voice of reason, the only voice other than Octavia's he'd willingly consider or voluntarily seek out.

With a sudden rage, he wrenched open her mouth, covered her nose and exhaled as deeply as he could. After repeating the exhale, he clasped his hands together over her breastbone and began counting. When he reached thirty, he returned to her mouth, pushing the thoughts away that her lips were too cold and unresponsive. Two more round of chest compressions and breath exhalations left him feeling weak and shaky.

They'd of course taught CPR on the Ark, not only in Guard Training, but in high school as well. But when the CPR had failed, the next stage had always been defibrillation. They didn't have that option down here. They'd also had doctors. Nurses. Equally first aid competent trained peers who could take over in turns so you could continue longer.

But Bellamy was alone and stranded on a beach over a hundred feet below a cliff that was crawling with Grounders.

With his waning energy, Bellamy began one more round of chest compressions. As his lips descended on Clarke's, he thought with regret how she'd deserved better than to go out like this. She'd never fully reconciled with her mom, and he knew she still carried a lot of guilt with her over her father's death. That much had been clear during their conversation after Dax's failed attempt to kill him.

Clarke had saved him from Dax. And he couldn't save her now.

His heart was heavy in his chest as he exhaled a final time, until with a slow realisation, it dawned on him that it wasn't a chest tight with emotions he was feeling, but two hands weakly but frantically pushing him away.

Clarke only just managed to push him away and roll to her side to expel copious amounts of salt water. Bellamy tried to gather as much of her wet hair back as possible as with lurch after lurch, she purged the lakewater. It was almost frightening how much she'd ingested, but it more relieving to see it out.

When Clarke was done dry retching, she weakly rolled back onto her back to gasp up at the sky and gulp in greedy breaths. Her eyes found his and it wasn't until she'd gotten enough of her breath back that she managed a "Thanks. Bellamy."

"Clarke!" At Finn's voice, Bellamy looked up to see the boy who had his eyes set on Clarke. He helped Raven down the ridge and the pair jumped to land in the sand. "Is she alright?" he wanted to know. Raven craned her neck to see for herself but said nothing.

"I'm alright," Clarke said with a croaky voice, grasping Bellamy's hand to help pull herself to a sitting position.

"The Grounders?" Bellamy asked the newcomers before shooting a look over his shoulder to scan the clifftop.

"We saw you guys fall but had to throw them off first. They backed off pretty quick when they saw Raven lighting a fuse."

"Lucky they did," Raven said as she hoisted her backpack higher. "The whole thing was soaked. It would've blown jack."

"We doubled back to make certain though. They're gone. And they didn't look too interested with making the trip down here."

"Right, well, we'll need to set up camp here for the night. I doubt we'll make it back to the others before dark, and Clarke looks like she can barely walk."

"I can manage," Clarke said sourly, yanking her arm from his helping hand and getting to her feet unassisted. She wobbled for a moment but regained her balance and hid her relief. Truth be told, she _didn't_ feel up to hiking back to camp.

"I'll get some firewood," Raven announced.

"I'll see about some dinner," Finn said with a look to the water. "Hey Bellamy, did you see any fish while you were in there?"

"I was a little busy," Bellamy returned drily. "Let's see about making some fishing equipment though." And with that, the two boys walked back to the shore as Finn began digging through his backpack and Bellamy stole a final glance at Clarke.

"I'll help you," Clarke told Raven, taking a step toward the sparse line of trees that began about thirty yards off of the beach.

"No, you sit. I'll get this." Clarke found herself almost rudely pushed back down to the ground by a bossy hand on her head.

"Raven," she growled. "I'm not an invalid."

"Clarke, you just kinda drowned. Can you let us take care of you for five seconds please?"

With an exaggerated huff, Clarke grabbed a nearby twig and began drawing in the sand.

When Raven finally collected her, she was glad to see Raven had found a nice niche in the cliff face. It was narrower than four people could find comfortable (let alone the tense pairings of their group) and it was tall, but Raven explained it was safer that way, so they could have the fire going without worrying about smoke inhalation.

"The trees could've provided us a little extra cover, but this is probably warmer in the long run" Raven explained as she took a lighter from her pocket and lit a small pile of leaves. The girls sat silently watching as they waited for the leaves to properly ignite, before gingerly piling the branches Raven had scavenged for on top. "The wind off the water tonight will be a bitch though."

Silence fell once more as the pair waited by the weakly growing fire. Both were lost in thought when the boys returned, carrying three fish and Clarke's backpack.

"Thanks," she said when Bellamy dropped it by her feet. He was wet from head to toe, so she assumed he'd gone back in to retrieve it. She didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, none of the Hundred knew how to swim. So Bellamy had risked his life. On the other hand, he'd not only saved her life in the water earlier, but retrieved what they'd all worked so hard to bring back to camp. "Really," she added gratefully at the thought that she now had at least her smaller first aid kit to return home with. She wasn't thrilled she'd lost the industrial med kit before the fall.

* * *

Dinner was a great icebreaker, and the food filling their stomachs helped them to relax. Raven was currently regaling Finn's many heroic deeds from childhood. It was sweet, the way Finn had always looked out for Raven. When Clarke met his gaze over the fire, she couldn't help the fondness from showing. She hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way. No way was she starting their relationship up again. If it could even have been called a relationship. They'd slept together once and that was the end of it.

"What about you, Bellamy?"

"I don't have any stories," he told them with barely concealed impatience. "For me, it was keeping Octavia safe and that was it."

"Oh come on," Clarke wheedled with a laugh. "I'm sure you have _some_ stories. What about your friends in school?"

Bellamy's mouth remained stubbornly shut and it was with that, that Clarke realised perhaps he hadn't had childhood friends. If his whole life on the Ark after Octavia had been born had been about concealing and protecting her, he wouldn't have been able to bring anyone home. He would have had to keep the world at arm's length. No wonder he turned out the way he did.

"What way?" he asked with a sharp look at her. She hadn't realised she'd voiced her that last thought aloud.

"Nothing."

"No, what?" he repeated with a hard voice.

"It's nothing," she insisted. They lapsed into an uneasy silence. At each frequent peek, Clarke could see Bellamy's mood was steadily growing darker. Shared glances with the others revealed they were as clueless as to why, as her.

"Okay, Bellamy, what's wrong?" Clarke suddenly asked when it became obvious no one else was going to confront the problem head on.

He stubbornly locked his jaw and shook his head.

"Come on, something's wrong. Spit it out." She knew that sometimes the only way to get Bellamy to open up was to push his buttons, but had she known what was coming, she would have remained silent. "It's not healthy to-"

"You know, this is all your fault," he told her angrily, gesturing to the fire. The hands that held her fish dropped to her lap and she gaped at him.

"Excuse me?"

"This entire day has been a disaster! We've been attacked by supersized wasps, drugged to the point we practically knocked on the Grounders' doors, been attacked _again_ by Grounders, and you fell off a cliff and drowned. Your little quest today put more people in danger than if we hadn't gone, medicine or no."

"We're not going to last long without it!" Clarke exploded. "Why don't you get that? Winter is coming and we are nowhere _near_ prepared for it. What do you think happens to the human body when it experiences a harshly cold environment, huh Bellamy? This isn't the Ark anymore. We can't regulate a pleasant temperature twentyfour-seven."

" _You're damn right_ ," he growled. "We need to be focusing on building proper shelters. Cabins. Mess halls. A smokehouse. You think the parachute tents are going to keep us from freezing?"

Clarke could only stare, stunned, as Bellamy's face warped in the firelight with anger. It gave Bellamy a sick sense of satisfaction to know he was finally getting through to her. The unpleasant emotions he'd felt churning in his stomach for the better half of the afternoon since Clarke's fall had finally found an outlet. And they were practically singing with glee as he unleashed them fully, and rapidly lost control.

"You just can't stand not being in charge though, can you, _Princess_?"

"Oh really?" Clarke asked bitterly. "And how is that?"

"You hate the idea that without your pills and your bandages, you and your medical skills will be rendered useless here. That's why you're trying so hard. You couldn't save your father so you're trying to save the rest of us."

The remainder of her dinner fell to the floor as Clarke lunged to her feet and clenched her fists. It was the only way to stop herself from hitting him. "Don't talk about my father!"

"But you Alpha Station people just don't get it," Bellamy continued over the top of her. "You with your comfy apartments and medicine and money. You never learned what all the other Stations learned long ago. You make do. You adapt and roll with everything. Monty's been experimenting with herbs here on the Ground. Jasper makes sure the dropship always receives the first stock of moonshine before the rest can even get a sip. You haven't even tried to adapt, Clarke. Face it, we're on the Ground now. It's time to start thinking like a Grounder. _We_ are Grounders now."

Clarke was trembling, but she couldn't tell if it was from the breeze that had picked up outside or the rage she was bottling up.

"I'm not going to apologise," Bellamy told her harshly. He was on his feet now too. "I won't mollycoddle you like the rest because I hold you to the same standard I expect myself to be held to. Your dad's dead, Clarke. He was floated. Just like my mom. Just like Raven's parents. Just like half the parents of the Hundred. That was your mom and the Council. But you're down here now. If you can't break free from your Ark thinking, you're sentencing the rest of us to death."

"You can be a real jerk sometimes, Bellamy," she hissed as she shoved him in the chest. He didn't fall over like she'd hoped, but she stormed off without a second glance.

* * *

So dramatic! Ahh Bellarke. Such tempers and strong dispositions between those two. You gotta love 'em. Especially when Bellamy gets all worked up coz Clarke nearly died and he hasn't worked out that's what's upsetting him yet :P

 **REVIEWS ARE MOST WELCOME** **:D**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:** Hi all! Oh MAN was it a long week. I forced myself to wait until Friday so that I could have one scheduled posting day a week, but I finished the last chapter and I have just been so antsy wanting to share it already :P But I know the fic won't be _as_ enjoyable if there's no angst of waiting in between chapters to see what happens next and you're in for a couple of cliffhangers, so I didn't want to rush :) I'm already mentally planning my next story now that I've finished this one. It's a Bellarke, naturally ;) Although I _was_ surprised by how much I loved writing Raven, so she'll probably be another of the major characters too.

 **Mysterious Guest, sydcasy, Athenyx** and **Mysterious Guest #2,** you guys rock. Thanks so much for your feedback!

* * *

Clarke found herself stomping back down to the beach. The violence of her steps helped clear her head and was actually quite a soothing outlet for her anger. As her strides grew longer, she found herself suddenly at the lake's edge, the water licking the toes of her boots as it too churned, as if anxious. A strong breeze carried the magnificent scent of… _storm_. Though Clarke had been on Earth for a couple of weeks now, she still felt wild wonder thrumming through her veins as each new joy presented itself. The first and last storm they'd had had been a mere trickling of rain. Enough to give them a day or two's reservoir of water until they'd found the springs and lakes a short distance from camp.

She inhaled deeply. She caught petrichor and earth and another scent she couldn't quite describe other than 'electric'. It was beautiful. Not beautiful enough to quell her fury though. The wind tugged at her almost dry hair, reminding her of Bellamy's hair tugs early that morning.

Bellamy.

"What a dick," she muttered to herself before turning on her heel and marching the length of the beach. She performed several laps across the wide expanse of sand before she finally felt herself starting to calm down. She didn't have to love the guy, but she sure as hell respected him in his capacity as co-leader at camp and knew they'd all be screwed without him.

That didn't mean she had to forgive him for spouting that utter shit about her before. And for bringing up her father? She was going to make him _grovel_ if he ever wanted to talk to her again.

She huffed and made for another lap of the beach when she heard her name.

"Clarke!"

It was Finn. And from the sound of it, he was following her down to the beach.

Though the aggressive pacing had helped stave off the excess anger, the blonde was still in no mood to talk to anyone, let alone the boy who'd broken her heart.

Spinning on the spot and realising there wasn't exactly a plethora of hiding places, Clarke seized upon the first bulky tree at the edge of the beach where the woods began and climbed. She fell twice and growled, realising the Sky People had little experience in the exercise compared to the Grounders. That would have to be one of their next matters to remedy once they returned to camp. Running for the next tree that looked both sturdy enough to hold her and provide decent cover with its foliage, Clarke was relieved to find a knot at waist height that would make for a great foothold. Stretching for the lowest branch she could reach, she smiled despite herself as she managed to swing momentarily before locking her foot in place and ascending into the branches.

Clarke was pleasantly surprised to find that climbing a tree wasn't really that difficult once you'd managed to start. And that was how she found herself perched almost comfortably in one of the upper bows and nestling herself against the trunk.

"Clarke!" Finn was on the beach now. If she ducked her head a little, she could see glimpses of him in between the swaying branches. Finn stood by the water, intently searching the immediate area of the beach. Luckily, the wind had managed to cover enough of her tracks that if he thought to look for them, they'd've been half buried.

Deciding Clarke wasn't there, Finn weighed his options with considerable looks to his left and right. When the rain began however, he raised a hand over his eyes and decided the most logical direction Clarke could have taken would have been the woods. Clarke watched from her perch in the tree as he started jogging in her direction, passing almost directly underneath her tree before disappearing in the overgrowth.

The sound of rain became louder as it increasingly poured down on the lake. Whilst the occasional drips and drabs found their way leaking through the bows overhead, Clarke found that for the most part, she was perfectly dry in her newfound shelter. She was almost considering staying there, but knew it wouldn't be fair to the others if they thought something had happened to her. Clarke may be pissed, but she wasn't low enough to make her friends fret or worry unnecessarily. Not to mention, the grumblings of thunder were beginning to grow in volume and insistence. It was still music to Clarke's ears, but she wasn't naive enough to think that she'd be safe hiding out from a storm in a tree. Anyone on the Ark could tell you that.

Finding out that climbing down was actually much harder than climbing up, Clarke carefully made her way back to the ground. She'd just placed her foot in the first knot on the tree and was shifting her weight, deciding how best to drop to the ground when a bright flash in her peripheral caught her eye. At first she assumed it was lightning, but after craning her neck for better vantage, her heart leapt into her throat and with a fresh surge of feeling, dropped to the ground, only just managing to avoid rolling her ankle.

The med kit had washed ashore! At present, it was trapped in the current between two boulders, and clanked insistently against each as it struggled to rejoin the water properly again. With a huff of laughter, Clarke ran back down the beach to collect her prize.

"Clarke," Bellamy's voice filtered on the wind as it was tossed down the beach. "Come back inside. You're being ridiculous." Ignoring him, Clarke waded calf deep into the now frigid water and scooped up the metal box, hugging it to her chest. Excess water dripped from the box and bled into her already wet shirt, causing her to shiver as the wind blew what felt like right through her. Studiously avoiding looking at Bellamy, she focused on wading back to shore. Emerging from the water was like emerging from liquid nitrogen, or exposing herself to fire. The wind whipped around her wet ankles, relishing in her chattering teeth.

"Put that thing down," Bellamy ordered as he marched to meet her. He made to grab it but she yanked it from his reach.

"Do you really think I'm going to listen to you right now?"

A giant fork of lightning lit up the sky above and Clarke took that as a sign urging her to return to the cave. With one hand firmly encasing the med kit's handle, she began to trudge up the beach in the direction of Finn and Raven.

"That thing's a conductor and in case you haven't noticed, Princess, we're in the middle of a storm."

Clarke's thoughts had been lingering in longing of the campfire. Her fingers, ankles, face and chest…. warm. Her hair and clothes… dry. She mentally groaned in anticipation at the mere thought.

"Clarke." When Bellamy's hand gripped her wrist, Clarke whirled on him, ready to give him a piece of her mind. They were now half under the protection of her hiding tree's branches, and the semi-reprieve from the rain made it easier to meet Bellamy's eyes as she unleashed her fury.

"Don't think about talking to me ever again until you apologise for the way you spoke to me," she said, having to raise her voice to be heard over the howling wind and cracking thunder. A flash of lightning brought his face into sharp relief momentarily and Clarke was satisfied to see him taking her seriously. "How can you think I don't care about the camp? Our survival means my survival. My survival means their survival. We're all living in a codependent relationship here in case you haven't noticed, Bellamy. But I can't exactly treat people with _sticks and_ _dirt_. I _am_ trying to adapt, you're just not seeing it." Her face darkened and it seemed as if the thunder growled ominously for her benefit. "And don't you ever – _ever_ – bring up my father again. If you so much as mention him, Bellamy, I swear I'll -"

They were standing so close. Breath ragged and nerves on edge due to the weather. They were focused so intently on each other, and Clarke found herself leaning even closer to expel her threat.

Therefore it took them both completely by surprise when an arm of lightning snatched at the closest hulking tree before leaping off and lunging for them too.

* * *

One moment Bellamy had been staring down into Clarke's furious face. The next he was on his back staring up at the tapestry of dripping leaves wondering what had happened.

Despite happening all at once, his brain helpfully broke the event down into three very distinguishable sounds.

A whip-like crack, meeting the surface of an unyielding opponent.

A brief crumbling explosion, like a sturdy body being ripped apart.

A brief scream.

Bellamy swung upright into a sitting position, momentarily going blind as the blood rushed from his head. When the swaying stopped and he was able to retune his vision blink by blink, his gaze fell on Clarke.

She was lying in the sand, spread eagled on her back with her left leg bent toward the lake. And at the end of her outstretched arm innocently lay the taunting white box.

"Clarke!?" If it was possible for there to be a sound that expressed one swallowing their own throat, Bellamy had just delivered it.

Pushing to his knees, he crawled over to the girl, skidding sand on her hip. Clarke's cornflower blue eyes stared wide and unseeing above. Already this scene felt too familiar to him. With two fingers coated in wet sand, he reached clumsily for her neck and upon finding it, pressing as gently as he could. Which turned out to be not gently at all, given his own pulse was pounding in his ears and he hardly hear a thing from hers.

Relief flooded through him. A strong heartbeat.

"I'm okay," she told him as she slowly came back to herself. She blinked the rainwater out of her eyes.

"Are you?" he asked earnestly.

"Yeah. Was just a bit shocked." Her lips quirked up as they both realised the double meaning to her words. "Ha," she said.

"Clarke!"

"Are you alright?" Raven demanded as she and Finn also dove for the sand. Within seconds, the pair had been soaked. Bellamy didn't think he'd faired any better, despite his lack of feeling at the present moment. The rain was falling so thickly now that their canopy-umbrella was failing. There was a faint burnt-wood smell now in the air, though the tree hardly looked worse for wear.

"Help me up?" Clarke's voice was too flat and too quiet and Bellamy didn't like it one bit. Yet when he reached out a hand for Clarke to grasp, she ignored it in favour of Raven's. Together, the girls got to their feet. Bellamy righted himself to find Clarke leaning against Raven. What was even more surprising was Raven helping her back up the beach. A quick glance at Finn showed the other guy wasn't managing to hide his own surprise half as well.

"The med kit," Clarke suddenly yelped, half turning under Raven's arm to return and retrieve it.

"Leave it," Bellamy said gruffly, throwing out a hand toward it to dissuade anyone who sought to argue. How he loathed that damn box. "It'll still be there in the morning. It's not worth getting killed over."

Bellamy lagged behind the group, partially lost in thought, partially to ensure Finn didn't sneak back to secure the med kit in the hopes of securing Clarke's favour too. By the time he got back to their cave, Raven had deposited Clarke and herself against the closest wall to the fire and both relaxed. Clarke stared unseeingly into the fire, but answered any question thrown her way by her well-meaning compatriots. At Clarke's request, Raven performed a once over to confirm Clarke hadn't received any burns or scars as a result of the lightning. Bellamy received a similar examination and was also declared fine.

"You sure you're alright?" Raven asked when she noticed the weight growing against her right side. It was clear their relationship was certainly facing change after this crazy trip.

Clarke hummed. "Just a bit tired," she said, coughing lightly.

"Is it safe to sleep?" Finn asked with concern from across the fire. "What if you have a concussion?"

"I don't have a concussion and I was tired before anyway." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the wall. "I suggest everyone who isn't on Watch sleep now, because we'll be up early to get back to camp."

After a few unsuccessful tries of finding comfort against the cold rock, the blonde slumped, half asleep against her makedo bedpost. Raven met Finn and Bellamy's gazes before tentatively shrugging her arm out from under Clarke and wrapping it around the girl. Clarke, like the rest of the Hundred, may have to be tough as nails during the day, but they all knew how vulnerability crept in during the nights.

"I'll take first Watch," Raven said.

* * *

Awwww, their burgeoning friendship is just too cute! Also, side note: what Clarke and Bellamy experienced is known as a Side Flash, where lightning strikes a taller object (such as a tree) and a portion of the current from that leaps from that taller object to a similarly grounding one nearby (esp if there's too much energy for that one initial object to take). It happens a lot more than you'd think, since a lot of us hide from storms under trees to get away from the rain or hail! Of course, if you've got an OTP so distracted by their own arguing, they're not really going to be having safety on the forefront of their minds, are they? :P

 **REVIEWS ARE MOST ENCOURAGED :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:** Many thanks to **GangstaKB33, Guest, Athenyx, Miss Meowing, Elcee** and **StarKiss666**. I loved hearing your feedback, so thanks for the reviews! :D

* * *

Clarke awoke to the painful sensation of pins and needles in her left arm. After shifting to remove the limb she'd pinned underneath her body, she realised she'd been sleeping horizontally, but that the cave floor wasn't as uncomfortable as she'd've assumed.

When her soft pillow began to move, that's when she realised she'd been sleeping _on_ someone. Opening her eyes revealed Raven's jean clad legs. She eased herself off Raven and sat upright, stretching out her stiff back as she attempted to ignore the painful tingling of circulation renewing itself in her left arm.

A yawn fought its way up her throat, but before it could clamber out of her mouth, a coughing fit got there first. Ducking her head to wince at the pain in her chest, Clarke waved off questions of concern and got to her feet. Bellamy, who was sitting at the mouth of the cave, had clearly been on Watch.

"You okay, Princess?" he asked in his usual husky voice.

"How come no one woke me? I should have had a shift on Watch."

"You were exhausted, Clarke."

"Yeah, so is everyone." She grabbed her backpack from the floor and headed out into the early morning light. "I'll find us breakfast."

The sounds of Bellamy getting to his feet reached her ears, but before she could shoot down his idea of escorting her, Raven's objection got there first.

"I'll go with her," she said. Clarke stopped and turned, watching as the brunette jumped to her feet and rolled her neck and shoulders. Grabbing her own backpack from the floor, she joined Clarke outside. "Let's go," she said when Clarke didn't move, and started walking. Before they knew it, they were at the edges of the forest, standing between the last of the trees before the lake.

The sun was just climbing the horizon now, and lit up the water in beautiful hues of orange and gold. Clarke felt elation swell in her chest at the sight and stopped to take it all in. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"God yeah," Raven said from her side, putting her hands on her hips and surveying the view. "They're so many colours down here. Makes the Ark seem like a monochrome prison." She paused and glanced sideways at her companion. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Clarke said with a sigh. "I wouldn't be here now if I hadn't been in the Skybox."

"Still," Raven said as she started walking again. "Solitary couldn't've been easy. At least I got to see Finn on Visiting Day."

Clarke said nothing and focused on digging up roots with a stick. She'd hoped Raven would get the message but they only worked in silence for a few moments before Raven spoke again.

"Your mom thinks that you're dead, you know."

"I know. I took the wristband off, remember?"

"Yeah, but once we can establish communications with the Ark, you'll be able to talk to her and she'll know you're alive. She'll be so relieved."

"No she won't." Clarke's voice was hard. She tugged forcefully at some more roots, but they remained stubbornly imbedded in the ground. "She cares more for the council than she does for the lives of her family."

"Clarke," Raven said, surprised, as she righted herself and stood staring at the blonde. "You know that's not true, right?"

"Tell that to my father, who she had floated for trying to save everyone."

Raven was at a loss for words, something she rarely felt. "I'm sorry to hear that. It was rough growing up with hardly a family, but I can't imagine losing one that I loved."

"Yeah, well, at least you don't go throwing it in people's faces to make yourself feel better." The bitterness from Clarke's words tinged the air around them. Clarke stood and coughed into her arm until she was red in the face before letting out a frustrated growl, attacking the roots anew.

"Bellamy didn't mean it," Raven said. "Surely you know that?"

"No Raven, I _don't_ know that. I can't believe he played that card and threw my most painful memory and biggest regret in my face. It just goes to show that he's not the guy I thought he was. No," she suddenly corrected herself. "He _is_ who I thought he was. He's exactly who I thought he was when we first came down. He'll only look out for himself and Octavia. That's it." Her voice lowered. "I can't believe I thought he'd changed."

"Look, I don't pretend to know what Bellamy was like when you guys first came down, my radio aside -"

"Then don't," Clarke said.

Raven watched as the angry blonde tossed another root into her backpack and marched away from their conversation. "I'll look for some berries," she said over her shoulder. It was clear she was not extending the invitation.

Raven didn't react when moments later, Bellamy appeared by her side.

"She's pretty pissed," Raven remarked. She crossed her arms and gave Bellamy an unimpressed look. "Although I can't say I blame her."

Bellamy said nothing, locking his jaw and staring ahead to where he could hear Clarke coughing. He wasn't proud of his eavesdropping, but something about hearing Clarke's feelings of him left him unsettled. Of course her opinion would've been changed after their spat last night. He couldn't fault her for that. He didn't like it, all the same. They'd finally come to respect one another. Until this damn trip.

"Fire's out," Finn announced as he jogged up to the pair. "Hey, where's Clarke?"

"There," Raven pointed before suddenly stilling. "What the heck?" When she started jogging, the boys had no choice but to follow her.

"I don't know," they heard Clarke saying as she and Raven bent over something on her arm. After a cursory glance around for Grounders, Bellamy looked over Clarke's shoulder to stare at…. her arm.

"What the hell?" he said gruffly, staring down at Clarke's exposed forearm. When she noticed him standing behind her, she scowled and turned her back further to him.

"Never mind, Bellamy," she said pointedly, tugging down the jacket sleeve she'd pushed up not a minute earlier, upon which her discolouring had caught her and Raven's eyes.

"No," he said roughly, grabbing her upper arm and spinning her so that he could get another look. "What is that? Some kind of poison?"

Clarke gave an exaggerated weary sigh. "No. It's probably from the lightning. I'm sure you'll have a mark too."

Bellamy pushed the sleeve of the jacket back up but it bunched at her elbow and wouldn't reveal further. "Take your jacket off," he ordered, softening his demeanour at her glower. "Please."

Clarke dropped her backpack and began shrugging off her outer layers until she was down to her tank top. Stuffing her jacket and long sleeved shirt under her right arm, she presented her left to the group. The topside showed no damage. Bellamy flipped her arm over by her wrist to examine the underside. Various gasps and an "eek" followed. The pale white limb was now tattooed with pale red spidery veins that branched across the skin like a healthy vine.

"It's kind of pretty," Raven offered, glancing at Clarke's impassive face.

"It's kind of dangerous," Bellamy corrected her. "Does it hurt?" he asked Clarke.

She shook her head. "No. Otherwise I'd've noticed it before."

"Yeah, but weren't you shaking it earlier?" Finn asked with concern. He looked like he was ready to run for anything she might ask for. "Back in the cave?"

"You mean when I woke up after sleeping on it all night?" Clarke asked as she flexed her fingers, testing them. "No. That was just pins and needles, I'm sure of it. Now," she said firmly and held out her open backpack. "Breakfast. My chest hurts and I want to get back to camp before anything else goes wrong." As everyone reached in to grab some roots that Monty had deemed safe and edible, but not necessarily palatable, Clarke straightened. "Where's the med kit?" she suddenly asked.

"It's still on the beach," Bellamy said.

"Well what are we standing around here for? We can't go home without it or this trip'll have been for nothing." She pushed past him and headed for the lake.

"Your definition of nothing," Bellamy told her as he followed, gun aloft and searching the area for possible attack. "Don't forget we got other - non medical - supplies."

"Oh thank God," he heard Clarke mutter as she ran down the sand and dove for the metal box he was learning to loathe the sight of. "I swear, if the Grounders had gotten it," she began.

"Then we'd know about it and maybe be dead," Bellamy finished for her. He took another root for breakfast from Raven's bag and tugged at it with his teeth.

"Oh my God." Clarke's voice was equal wonder and surprise as she looked down upon something in the sand.

"What is it?" Finn asked as he walked past Bellamy and squatted in the sand beside Clarke.

But Clarke ignored him. Reaching for something he couldn't quite understand, she pulled it out and dusted off the excess sand. It caught the morning light and winked at him. Clarke's smile was contagious and as she met Bellamy's eye, he felt an adjoining grin spread across his face. It was as they stared at each other, he knew their fight was over. He'd apologise later anyway, for the principle of it, but he had the feeling he was forgiven somehow anyway.

"Glass!" Clarke breathed happily. "We made glass! Do you know what this means for camp?"

"Cabins with windows?" Raven guessed.

"Anything," Bellamy answered. "Whatever the hell we want."

With a swooping in his chest, Bellamy realised he couldn't look away from Clarke. Nor want to.

Clarke gave him a smirk. "Whatever the hell we want."

* * *

The stride of the group as they trekked back to camp had been bolstered by their discovery. Bellamy in particular was pleased that they now knew they had the ability to create glass, something that had yet to occur to them on the ground, but had unappreciatively taken for granted on the ark.

Already, he was running through a mental list of things they could use to ground the lightning during the next storm. Finn and Raven ahead were discussing its mechanical strength and contact resistance.

"Admit it," Clarke said with a smug tilt of her chin. "You wouldn't have your new toy if it weren't for mine." She held up the med kit.

"Alright, Princess," Bellamy said with a lopsided grin. "I may feel a little indebted to your stupid box. _But_ ," he added before she could get too cocky. "That came at a price." His small frown was directed at her arm, which still hugged the med kit to her chest. Clarke would probably deny it if he asked, but he had the feeling her shins had been bruised solid by the repetitive bashing they'd received when she'd initially carried the kit by her side.

"Just taking one for the team," Clarke said soberly, clearing her throat and dropping the kit back to her side so she could rub her chest. "I think I'm coming down with something," she told him before he could ask if she was alright. The coughing fits alone could have told him that. They were noticeably increasing in frequency and duration. With a small twinge of guilt, Bellamy wondered if that could have been his fault. Perhaps if he hadn't had a round with her last night, she'd've stayed by the fire for longer and stayed warm. Instead, she'd stormed out into a storm.

"Clarke," he said. His blonde companion fell silent at the change in his tone. "About last night -"

Clarke suddenly looked pained. "Can we not talk about it? I'll take an apology but let's leave it there, alright?" Though she tried to hide it, he noticed her suck in a deep, shuddering breath.

"I _am_ sorry," he told her sincerely. He focussed on Raven's ponytail, partially because it was easier than looking at Clarke, and partially because he wanted to give her some privacy. The emotions that he'd just seen battle for dominance on her face had said it all: she would always be strong, but because she had to be. If she couldn't ever let her emotions be free, they'd weigh her down until she broke, like sand exploding into glass.

"It was none of my business bringing up your father. And it wasn't right, either. My mother raised me to be good and all I can do easily is hurt people."

"Bellamy -" he felt her hand on his arm.

"You were right," he told her simply. "And that sucks, and I'm sorry you were. I'm not the same guy that came down on the dropship, Clarke. Earth's changed me and it's not always for the better, like I would like to believe."

"Hey, who we are and who we need to be to survive are two very different things. You told me that."

"Was who I was last night about surviving?" he asked her pointedly.

Clarke frowned at that and rubbed her chest.

"Hey, aren't these the springs we plan to use for winter?" asked Finn up ahead. Bellamy glanced to where Finn was pointing and recognised the small bodies of water that gave off slight hazes of steam.

"We're not far from camp," Bellamy agreed with a nod. "We should be there in about twenty minutes."

When he glanced to his side, Clarke was no longer there. Glancing around, he found her lagging behind. She was still frowning, her eyes were unfocused and she was absently running a hand back and forth across her lower sternum. Bellamy opened his mouth to ask whether she was alright when she stumbled.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, his volume and question bringing a stop to the quartet. Finn and Raven turned to look.

Clarke's steps had slowed to almost a crawl, and when she stumbled again, she reached out to regain her balance against a tree.

Bellamy was back by her side in three quick strides.

"Clarke? Clarke?" he repeated after receiving no acknowledgement.

Clarke closed her eyes and was focusing on her breathing as she leaned heavily on the arm supporting herself against the tree. She swayed slightly and removed the arm as a middleman entirely, slumping against the rough bark.

"She doesn't look so hot," Raven observed as she approached the pair. Finn was circling on the spot, keeping an eye on the trees for any Grounders, though he glanced back often at Clarke.

"What's wrong with her?" he wanted to know.

Bellamy was alarmed when he noticed how pale she was becoming, making the sheen of sweat on her forehead all the more noticeable.

"That's not good," Clarke whispered, more to herself than anyone.

"Clarke?" Bellamy asked, taking a slow step into her personal space. With a quick glance at an equally concerned Raven, he tucked his fingers under her chin and lifted it up. He missed being able to catch her, but at least he slowed her fall as she slumped down the tree and hit the ground. He slowly fell to his knees as she went down, his efforts hindered by the gun strapped across his chest. He fumbled to push his weapon back until it slid into position at his back. "Clarke!"

"Secondary drowning," she wheezed, her eyes falling closed.

* * *

AHHH! Poor Clarke. Things have been so rough for her this trip :P This fic is just so dang dramatic! We're almost to the end though. Two, perhaps three more chapters to go :)

 **REVIEWS ARE MOST APPRECIATED** **:D**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN:** Thank you to **Hmm I'm Thinking, StarKiss666, anonymous Guests, Athenyx, Darkangel-Luv** and **00sonrisa00** for your feedback! Reviews are my favourite part of sharing my fanfiction! You guys rock!

Two quick things - Yep, Clarke was the only one with a mark on her arm and that was the same arm that was holding the handle to the medical kit. In my mind, the lightning did a jumpy U-turn and some excess energy jolted back into her arm from the metal box (I'm sure that's not scientifically true, but personally it's how I visualised it). And if you google image search lightning scars, some are actually pretty cool looking!

The other thing - friendly reminder that if you don't enjoy or like this story, do not feel compelled to read it! :D I try to write the characters true to how they are in the show, because writing them OOC is pointless in fanfiction as it may as well be an original character. Like Thalie! So all characterisation is based on the actual already-established characters, not my own imagination. Criticising every chapter how I write Clarke would be more effective if you wrote to The 100 Writers Room (they're on tumblr, twitter, and have a mailing address), so that I could follow their lead :) _(I wish the person who I was directing this at didn't review anonymously so I could have spoken privately to them. Alas! Public Service Announcement it is.)_

Happy reading, everyone!

* * *

"What?"

"What did she say?"

"Did she say she's drowning?"

"Clarke?"

The confusion was a cacophony of voices. Raven had joined Bellamy on the ground, kneeling at Clarke's other side. She gave clumsy taps that were more like slaps to Clarke's cheeks.

"What's happening?" she asked Bellamy with alarm and genuine concern in her eyes.

"She said 'secondary drowning'. Does that mean anything to either of you?"

Finn slung his gun and backpack off. "Let me see her," he said. Bellamy and Raven gave him space as he reached over for her throat's pulse. "It's racing," he said seriously. Bellamy nearly punched him when he saw him press his face on Clarke's boobs until he realised he was listening for something. "There's too much fluid in there. She's drowning."

"What?" Raven asked, perplexed. She'd glanced away while her boyfriend practically felt up another girl in front of her, but Clarke's health was more important than any grudge right now. "What does that mean?"

"More importantly, what do we do about it," Bellamy corrected gruffly.

Finn looked torn.

"Now would be a good time if either of you has any suggestions," Bellamy said with exasperation. "It's not lost on me that the only person who would know what to do isn't available right now."

"I saw Clarke once -" Finn began, before a coughing fit roused the girl in question. Her eyes had flown open and a hand had flopped as if it had tried to stifle the coughs but couldn't muster the energy.

"Clarke!"

"Clarke, what do you need?" Bellamy demanded, capturing her attention by thrusting his face inches before hers. Her wide eyes locked on his and he was a little frightened by the helplessness in them. She was clearly in pain, wincing as she struggled for basic breaths of air. " _Tell us._ "

"Drain the fluid," she wheezed, lifting a trembling hand to her chest. Her head, still supported by the tree, flopped to look at Finn. "Remember the girl?"

Bellamy shot a look at Finn. "What's she talking about?"

"When we were captured by the Grounders, one of their apprentices had fallen from a tree. The trauma caused internal bleeding. She was choking on her own blood," Finn explained as quickly as he could. "I saw what Clarke did, but I'm not confident enough to try it. What if I make her worse?"

"Clarke will talk you through it," Bellamy told him before urgently looking back at her. "Won't you Clarke?" But Clarke's eyes had unfocussed and her wheezing breaths were starting to carry a trace of gurgle on them. "Clarke?" Her eyes refocused. "Should we try to take you back to camp?" he asked, even as he knew the answer.

Clarke shook her head and closed her eyes. "It has to be now," she said, as Raven exclaimed "There's not enough time!"

"Finn, just do it," Raven told him in a voice that left no room for argument. Finn held her gaze for only a moment before he nodded. "Find me a clean knife and a pen."

Despite the unusual request, his companions dived for the backpacks and dug around until Raven emerged with an almost-empty waterbag, "Moonshine!" she declared as she pulled out her knife from her pocket. Bellamy emerged from Clarke's backpack and triumphantly held up a new pen they'd picked up at the air tower, before he realised how ridiculous his victory looked.

Raven cleaned her knife with her shirt before dribbling the last of the moonshine on it, her expert pouring coating as much of the blade as possible before it spilled over the sides and was absorbed into the dirt.

"Now what?" she wanted to know.

Finn looked so nervous, he might be sick. "Someone might want to hold her steady."

 _I'll do it_ , Bellamy had intended to say. But Raven had made an infinitely small move towards Clarke as if she were going to offer, and his body reacted in panic, reaching quickly for Clarke to get there first. "I'll do it," he said gruffly after he'd captured his prize and won. He cleared his throat. He hoped he hadn't looked as much like a caveman as he thought he did.

As gently as he could, he pulled Clarke from her support post and settled himself against the tree, arranging them so that she was laying against his chest. Her gasping breaths were rumbling now, sounding wet to his ears, and vibrating though her back and into him.

He locked eyes with Finn, who looked as grim as he felt, and nodded. Raven passed the knife to him and they swapped places, with Finn hovering on Clarke's left.

"Clarke, where should I cut?" he asked as he kneeled poised at her side. Bellamy craned his neck over her shoulder to watch her. Her face revealed her distress. Her breaths were quick and shallow now, and Bellamy reached out to grasp her hand. He could count on one hand the amount of times he'd even seen Clarke scared. She looked so vulnerable and in such pain, that he physically felt pain of his own clenching around his heart, squeezing tight and stealing his breath.

Too winded for words, Clarke tapped the spot at the base of her throat with two fingers from the hand currently not enveloped in Bellamy's. Finn went in with the knife and that was all Bellamy saw before his attention was stolen by Clarke's sudden rigidness. She hissed in pain and jerked back, pushing herself further back into Bellamy's embrace. Giving up dignity altogether, he released her hand and wrapped his arms around her. He hoped she found it more comforting than confining. He wanted to give her comfort but knew that the best way to help her was to prevent her from moving too much so that Finn could do his job. He could always comfort her later. After she'd survived.

Bellamy felt warm stickiness flow onto his arms. He felt a brief wave of nausea, not from the blood itself, but the fact that it was Clarke's. That blood _was_ Clarke. He couldn't fight off the disgusting images his brain was conjuring that he was literally having Clarke leak onto him. Emptying, turning inside out, aspects of her gushing over his arm in warm spurts, liquid life, bleeding away. He gritted his teeth and focused on keeping her calm, even as she trembled and choked in his arms, hugging her tighter to him, talking nonsense quietly in her ear.

He felt rather than saw Finn plug the emptied pen in the wound. Clarke jerked and stilled, and there was a sudden awful odour, sour on the air.

"I'm guessing that's the seawater," Raven said after an unintentional sniff. "Hey, shouldn't she be laying down?"

Clarke shook her head. "Not a tracheostomy," she said. It took her a long time to get the words out. "Need gravity. Liquid." She let her head fall back against Bellamy and sighed.

"Your breathing seems better?" offered Finn. "Is it?"

Clarke nodded. For a long time, no one spoke, simply watching as the blood turned to foul smelling lake water and back. Bellamy stared unseeingly at Clarke's leg as he continued to cradle her to his chest, like a child who was worried his favourite toy would be taken away. He noticed when her breathing became less laborious, feeling her fill her lungs more deeply in the cocoon he'd trapped her in.

"Sorry to have put you in this position," Clarke said quietly. He felt the words rumble in his chest in more than one way.

"It's only okay so long as you live," he told her before daring to place a kiss in her hair. "Just promise me you won't die."

"Can't promise that," she murmured. "No one can."

"Well the camp needs you, Princess. Without you and your stubbornness, we're as good as dead. Who else can both patiently stitch us back together whilst berating us for getting injured in the first place?"

It was as he said these words that he realised her strength was the only thing keeping him sane as he struggled to be in charge of what was essentially a small army that had no chance of survival if the Grounders decided to attack in force. He recalled her efforts to keep him fed both day and night (she was perhaps the only one who worked as long into the night and was up as early as him). Keeping him company in her spare time when he was on Watch at the gate. Defending him when people questioned his leadership (apparently it was only okay when _she_ questioned him). Forcing him to take naps during downtime and running the camp on her own for an hour when she thought he was looking a little too rundown…

With the sudden unpleasantness that accompanies such an epiphany, Bellamy realised how wrong he'd been. Of _course_. Her need for medicine was her way of saying she cared about them. Why hadn't he seen that she hated the idea of having to stand by helplessly as the group that was surely becoming a giant family, faced hurdle after hurdle of adversary when it came to their health? He swore under his breath when he remembered his words only the night before and how cruel he'd been. He'd thrown her father's death in her face. She'd been immediately sent to isolation – long months of grieving alone. And then been thrown down here to Earth. Shit. What an ass he'd been. Truly, an ass.

Clarke tried to twist in his arms in response to his profanity but he tightened his hold to keep her still. He didn't want that pen lodging somewhere it shouldn't because she'd moved wrong.

"I'm sorry, Clarke," he whispered brokenly by her ear. He rested his chin on the top of her head. "I'm sorry for everything."

She reached up and patted his arm comfortingly. She wasn't sure what he was apologising for, but the gravity with which he'd said it spoke volumes.

* * *

"Okay, you can take it out now. Bring me one of those blankets from the air tower to control the bleeding," Clarke said when she deemed the operation a success. "We've wasted enough time. Everyone'll be worried and there's always the chance of Grounders."

Raven dug through her backpack for the cleanest blanket she could find, and held it at the ready as Finn slowly pulled the pen out. Raven swooped in and helped Clarke press it against the small hole at her collarbone. "Maybe you'll be left with an impressive scar," she teased with a small smile. Clarke scoffed and rolled her eyes, but couldn't fight the smile off her face.

Finn threw the pen to the ground and picked up the ink cartridge he'd yanked out earlier, stuffing it down the side of his backpack. "Probably don't wanna use that one," he said nodding to the empty casing.

"Up we go," Raven sang as she helped Clarke to her feet, Bellamy struggling to his feet behind her. Truth be told, his legs had cramped up ages ago, but he'd been enjoying his closeness with Clarke too much to do much about it. Flexing the muscles in his legs, he looked around and picked up his gun. Wordlessly, he handed it to Raven, who thankfully took it without a word of her own, and pulled one of Clarke's arms around his shoulder. When they realised there was still Clarke's backpack to be carried, and it was a choice between supporting Clarke to walk or leaving it behind, Bellamy said "Screw it", tugged on her backpack and swung her up into his arms.

"I'm fine to walk, Bellamy," she argued after her initial reaction of flinging her arms around his neck. "Really."

"Clarke, you can hardly keep your head up and you look exhausted," he told her as the trio began walking.

Clarke scowled. "Can everyone stop saying that?"

"Look, in the past 24 hours alone, you've been stung by wasps, run for your life, drowned, been struck by lightning, drowned _again_ , and been operated on in the woods by Space Walker. It's okay to admit your body has been put through the ringer."

Clarke huffed. "Guess you were right about this trip being a mess."

"Glad to hear you were listening. That was the only part I was right about though. Forget the rest. I shouldn't have said it."

Clarke feigned shock. "What's this? The Great Bellamy Blake admits he was wrong? Shoot, I wish we were still on the Ark and had access to a video recorder." Her sleepy blinks and yawn ruined the effect, which annoyed her all the more.

Bellamy smiled despite himself and glanced back down at her. "Ha ha. Go to sleep, Princess. We'll be back at camp soon and I'm betting Jasper or Monty are going to wet themselves when they see the state of you. Best to be on alert so you can fend them off."

"You wouldn't let me fend for myself," she tried to tell him seriously, but her drowsiness turned it into a far more affectionate sentiment. Bellamy glanced down once more with a soft smile. He could tell she was losing the battle against sleep as her head weighed heavier and heavier on his shoulder.

She was damn right. He'd never let her fend for herself again as long as he lived.

* * *

 **AN:** Clarke's okay, yay! Regarding Finn's reference to the Grounder girl, I took inspiration from 1x11 'The Calm', where Tris (Anya's second) was injured by the bomb at the bridge, but it is not the same event. That way, this fic can still exist somewhat canon-true as it occurs before Raven and Finn break up, the Ark and the Camp have radio contact etc. But in this situation, Finn and Clarke were still kidnapped, and Clarke was forced to perform the operation to save the girl who fell whilst they were there. Just to clarify!

 **Reviews are most welcome!** **:D**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi all! I'm very sorry for the months-long break between this chapter and the previous. I actually thought I'd posted this, but it came to my attention yesterday I did not. Oops! Here's the final chapter for this story. I hope you enjoy it, and thank you to everyone who was kind enough to favourite, follow and most of all, review the story! Your support means so much to me! It motivates me to keep posting, even when the writing gets harder :D**

* * *

"Mom and Dad are back!"

Cheers of triumph erupted over the palisade at the announcement. The gate was hauled open and the group of wearied travellers was welcomed back in a manner of congratulations and relief. Bellamy got the feeling that the cheer had more to do with the fact that majority of their leadership team were not dead, rather than relief that the individuals themselves weren't so. Camp had proved before it could barely run itself without them for long.

It was only when Raven and Finn parted and Bellamy became visible that a hush quickly fell over the previously rejoicing teens. The back pats stopped, smiles stilled and almost a hundred pairs of eyes fell on the girl in Bellamy's arms. Clarke was only just awake, but it wasn't missed that both she, and Bellamy's arms were stained with dried blood.

Bellamy managed to part the crowd without a word as he headed for the dropship. Clarke gave a small groan and her transport fought down a smile. She was back home to her 'beloved' tower, but this time her being locked up was for her own good.

"Clarke!?"

"Oh my god, what's wrong with her?"

"Outta my way," Bellamy ordered when Jasper and Monty's faces loomed too close for his liking. "Give her some space."

He was glad when Raven took to the task of explaining what had happened as Finn made himself useful with crowd control outside. It wasn't something he'd been particularly relishing to do.

"She'd been coughing like crazy all morning and was having chest pains, so when she collapsed, we didn't know what to do. She couldn't breathe."

"Was the fatigue related?" Monty wanted to know with a hand on his chin.

"She was hit by lightning," Jasper explained in his usual wide eyed manner, throwing a hand in Clarke's direction as she lay on the makeshift pallet that only days ago she'd nursed Thalie's broken ankle on. "Of course she was going to be tired."

"No, I mean, it sounds like she-"

"Hey," Jasper lit up with excitement. "Did you get a cool scar or burn or something? I remember an electrician telling us once when he came to fix the sprinkler system on Agro about mad burns."

Clarke scoffed with a tired grin and pushed up her sleeve. Jasper and Monty crowded around to get a proper look before letting out similar exclamations of awe and giving each other their special high-five handshake.

"It's like a vine! That's cool." Monty said.

"It's kinda pretty," Jasper said with a nod.

"It looks like the bronchial tree," Clarke commented drily. "Yeah, _so_ pretty."

"Look, when you're done gawking over Clarke's cool new tattoo, could someone please remember she needs medical attention?" Bellamy said, trying to hide his frustration. "Her arm will still be here tomorrow."

"Right!" Jasper and Monty snapped into attention.

"Clarke, what do you need?" Monty asked.

"I'm going to need some moonshine to make sure this doesn't get infected," Clarke said as she tried to get a look at the wound herself. All she managed to do was give herself a comical double chin as it pushed against her throat. "Any tea with soothing properties and some red meat."

"What's the meat for?" Bellamy asked with a furrowed brow.

Clarke shrugged. "I'm going to need to replenish my red blood count, keep up my energy. That and I'm hungry."

"Clarke?" Thalie had just pushed open the dropship curtain as she was helped inside by Harper. "Hey, I heard you were injured." She hobbled slowly across the small room to the bench.

"Yeowtch," was all Harper said with a wince when she got a full look at the dried blood caking Clarke's front.

"I'm not going to explain it again," Raven said as she wearily took a seat on the ladder to the upper levels. "You can find out what happened from one of the others. It'll be all over camp before dinnertime."

"Are you stuck in here for a while?" Thalie asked as she looked down on Clarke.

Clarke shifted, uncomfortable to be the patient in this role play reversal. "Probably. No point going to my tent if people get injured and need a doctor, right?" She gave a small smile.

"I'll stay with you then," Thalie announced, steering her walking crutch known as Harper to the nearest seat. "It's only fair after how nicely you looked after me the other day," she explained as she drew her leg up and gingerly placed her ankle on the next seat to keep it elevated. She locked serious eyes with Clarke. "I didn't forget it." Suddenly she brightened with a smile. "Besides, where else can I go?"

* * *

Over the next two days, Clarke saw a constant flurry of "visitors". That's what they called themselves at least, but really she knew what they were doing. Did they think she wouldn't notice that they were all taking shifts to look after her? Not that she needed looking after. All she needed was rest. The poison sumac teas that Monty frequently brought her were incredibly soothing however, so she couldn't even muster the annoyance at the idea she was being babysat.

After two days of imposed bedrest as ordered by "Dr Monty and Nurse Jasper", Clarke was feeling back to her usual self. Her throat still occasionally twinged, but was healing nicely. Luckily she'd been the only patient the dropship had seen during the past 48 hours. She had a feeling someone had been running interference outside. She had vague dreams of Bellamy's voice floating in and out of her half-drugged (thanks to Monty) conscious state.

"It's Octavia!" one of the guards on Watch by the gate called. It was customary to announce every person coming into camp, so that enough people could drag the gate open knowing full well who or what they were allowing in.

Clarke joined the small party that congregated by the gate. Moments later, Raven was by her side.

"O?" Bellamy's voice managed to travel across the camp from the war tent he was exiting. "Octavia?"

"Hey big brother," his fierce little sister greeted with a grin as he jogged to the gate, pushed through the crowd and grabbed her in a rough hug. "Wow, missed me so much already? It's only been a couple of days. Bro, you know you're starting to develop some serious separation anxiety or something."

"I'm too relieved you're back to ground you right now," Bellamy muttered into her hair.

"Don't you worry, that'll fade," Octavia told him. "Then you'll go back to your grumpy self and try to lock me in all over again." She released him and began searching for something. "Where's Clarke?"

Bellamy joined her in her search but Clarke was already breaking through the crowd to get to them.

"What's up, Octavia?" She felt rather than saw Raven sidle back up to her side. She fought the urge to grin.

"I've been with Lincoln," Octavia told her before being drowned out by a chorus of groans. The camp all knew what Bellamy's mood would be like for the rest of the day. "I asked him about the medicine for you."

"Oh right!" Clarke perked up. "And? Have they used it before?" She crossed her fingers, despite knowing the superstition ritual from childhood played no bearing on luck or wish fulfilment.

"Yeah, actually." Octavia's eyes lit up. "They use it for practically everything!"

"Really?" Clarke was dubious.

"I'll show you," Octavia said before looking around at the twenty or so eavesdroppers to their semi-public conversation. "Who's got an injury that we can disinfect?" She followed everyone's gazes back to Clarke. "Oh, you hurt?" she asked with a furrowed brow. For a moment, the resemblance between her and her brother was startling.

Clarke unzipped her jacket and pulled the neck of her shirt down to show the makeshift bandage. Really it was just a strip of cloth duck taped to her collarbone. Without breaking eye contact, she pulled the tape off, barely reacting to the pain of the tape pulling her skin half off with it.

Octavia stared at the puckered scar before remembering herself. "I need a clean cloth!" she yelled. Someone ran to the makeshift clothesline and pulled off a freshly washed bandage. "Thank you," Octavia said when it was placed into her waiting hand. She pulled a small vial out of her pocket and poured it over the cloth before slapping it onto Clarke's throat.

Clarke's eyes immediately began to water. "Wow, that's strong," she commented, referring to the smell. She wasn't about to admit the smell was only half the cause for tears. It also burned at her wound like moonshine, but worse.

"Yeah. It'll probably clear up your nose if you get a cold, too," Octavia said.

"So how do the Grounders make this?" Clarke asked.

"Oh, it's kinda complicated but Lincoln showed me how to rig up a system that will do all the hard work for us. You have to distil the leaves by steam and use it as an oil."

"Ahhhhhhhh," Monty and Jasper gave exaggerated nods of understanding. "Seems so obvious now," Monty said.

"Your family's in pharmaceuticals, not mine," Jasper told him, throwing his hands up in a 'beats me' gesture. "This is all on you."

"It should _never_ be taken internally," Octavia continued, wagging a finger in Clarke's direction. "External use only. Got it?"

"Yeah. I got it. No ingesting the oil."

"Oh and look, Lincoln gave us his most of his personal supply until we can get a distillery going." Octavia dug into her pockets and pulled out more vials. They clinked together in her palm.

"Okay well how about you help set up John Smith's laboratory, O, instead of standing around and talking about it?" Bellamy began shooing off the various onlookers. "Don't you all have jobs to do?"

"Lincoln would be Pocahontas, Bel," Octavia rolled her eyes. "I'm the John Smith of our relationship."

Bellamy's jaw ticked at the word 'relationship', but Clarke was surprised to find him hold his tongue. They all knew how Bellamy felt about Octavia's special Grounder friend.

"What do we have here that could be used for a second distillery?" Octavia asked as she left with Monty and Jasper. Monty and Jasper could be heard excitedly explaining the camp's discovery that they could make glass as their voices faded into their tent. No doubt their amateur moonshine distillery would be industrialised too with the 'invention' of glass.

Bellamy crossed his arms and gave a pointed look at Clarke. "Mind telling me what that was all about?"

"I'm gonna go play with my radios," Raven announced, turning on her heel and exiting the conversation. She glanced over her shoulder before ducking into her work tent. Did Bellamy and Clarke realise how close they were standing? And come to think of it, their body language was nowhere near as tense (and sometimes downright hostile) as it used to be. Oh yeah, Raven thought, they definitely became closer on that trip. Too bad it took a couple of near misses with death to get themselves there.

"I sent Octavia to see if the she could find out if the plant Monty and I found had the healing properties we suspected it did," Clarke explained "I was just hoping for even half the properties the Tea tree apparently has. It would be a solution to a lot of problems we'll eventually have to face. But we were also having trouble mashing it into a paste for poultices. Who knows how long it would've been until we thought to distill it. If we even thought of that at all. What?" she asked after realising Bellamy had not only not interrupted her long winded speech, but let her finish on her own.

"Shit," Bellamy sighed, throwing a hand into his hair. "Clarke - I – you -" he growled when he couldn't vocalise his thoughts properly. He was too busy marveling at her dedication to the camp. "I'm sorry – again – for what I said the other day. You are adapting. You even risked my wrath by risking my little sister's neck just to get the information you needed. That takes guts. I didn't give you enough credit. I won't doubt you again." They both knew that wasn't exactly true – their leadership depended on their opposing perspectives to duke it out until they'd reached a middle ground – but Clarke recognised it for the remorseful olive branch it was.

She reached over with the intention to pat his forearm, but found herself instead just holding it. "I know I still think like the Ark," she said. "But that's because I grew up in the knowledge of advanced medicine. This Earth stuff is new and hard and I feel majorly out of my depth not knowing even the basics of foraging for medicinal herbs." She sighed. "I just wish they'd sent down a real doctor, or real supplies, or even a book on what we would have needed to learn. The Ark truly did abandon us."

"Aw Princess," Bellamy smirked and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She reached an arm around his waist. "You can take the girl out of Alpha, but you can't take Alpha out of the girl."

Clarke gave an exaggerated huff of annoyance and twisted out from under his arm. "And you can take Bellamy Blake out of Section B," she jokingly began before sobering again at the sudden awkward reference to his poorer, harsher upbringing. "But you can't take the survivor out of him," she whispered, staring into his eyes. She placed her hand on his chest. "The camp needs both brains and guts," she told him. "We've both got that in spades. Forget where we've come from. We're all here on the ground now."

Clarke found she couldn't look away. Bellamy's eyes were focused on hers and not for the first time she realised how deep and warm they could be (when he _wanted_ them to be). His chest was hard beneath her palm, and she imagined she could feel his heart beating. When Bellamy reached up to brush some loose hair from her face, she let him. And when he slid his hand through her hair and cradled the back of her neck, she let him. And when he leaned down to kiss her, she let him.

In fact, she kissed him right back.

His lips were warm on hers as she closed the distance between them, sliding the hand that didn't rest on his chest, up his arm. She gently gripped his shoulder. She tilted her head, allowing him easier access as he poured more into the kiss. More desire, more urgency, more warmth. Clarke allowed Bellamy to lead her backwards until her back hit the camp gates. There, Bellamy brought his hands to cradle Clarke's face, forcing her to readjust her own hands. They roamed over his back until a cough nearby brought reality jumping back between them. Bellamy's lips left hers but didn't move from his current position. Their lips were inches apart, breaths mingling as they panted, each watching the other. Eventually, Bellamy gave his familiar lopsided grin before releasing her and stepping back.

Clarke hated how damsel-in-distress the sentiment was, but she was glad she had the support of the palisade to lean on. Her legs felt so loose, like she'd gone and sculled a vat of moonshine, that she was worried she'd fall over if she tried to walk.

"Maybe you might wanna take this 'argument' elsewhere," Miller suggested with only the hint of a smile. He jerked his head to the majority of the camp who all suddenly found something to do and dispersed.

"Maybe later," Clarke said with a smirk at Bellamy. In truth, she couldn't be sure of her feelings for Bellamy unless she had a minute to step away from him. Her hormones were all over the place and she knew she'd only end up making out with him – or more – if they went anywhere more private right then. "I've got to check on the plans for the distillery." She patted Bellamy's shoulder and planted a quick kiss at the corner of his mouth before stepping out from under him.

"I'm going to hold you to that 'later', Princess," Bellamy said as she began to leave. It was only by the time she'd reached Monty and Jasper's tent that she realised she hadn't walked across camp, she'd _strutted_. Like a self-satisfied morning-after girl. With a grin, she flipped up the tent flap and ducked inside. She couldn't even bring herself to feel embarrassed about it.

Little did she know, there would be many, many mornings ahead of her that would start with a self-satisfied strut. And she wouldn't be the only one sporting it.

* * *

 **Like I said in an earlier A/N, I used Story Cubes for the plot of this fic. Here are the pictures I rolled, all those months back! In rough order of their relevance to the story: a die, a plane, a tower, a padlock, a bee, an arrow, a fountain, a fish, a bolt of lightning. I hope you enjoyed the story and I'd love to hear your feedback! At the moment, I'm keeping fairly busy with NaNoWriMo, HOWEVER I look to start posting my next 100 fic in early December (the Story Cube dice have already been rolled and plotting has begun! Currently debating whether to have some Clexa in it or stick with just Bellarke. Thoughts? Which would you rather see? Or have both? I'm leaning toward both at the moment, but things may change.). See you folks then x**


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